Kyle Moves Ahead While Big Bro Looks For Work

The Phillies figure that one Drabek in their family is enough. With Kyle Drabek moving up the ladder, his big brother Justin is simply looking for work wherever he can find it.

Wednesday will be a big day for Kyle Drabek. The Phillies first round pick from last June's draft will get to start for the Phillies against Florida State in an exhibition game. Manager Charlie Manuel tabbed Drabek for the start for a few reasons. The Phillies are looking to get Drabek's feet wet by spending some time in the major league camp and they figured a start in an exhibition game would top off the experience which is set to end later this week.

The start is somewhat ironic, since Drabek would have been a college freshman had he not been drafted and signed with the Phillies.

Meanwhile, his older brother Justin is running around Florida looking for work. The 20 year old big brother pitched in a tryout camp over the weekend, but wasn't signed by a major league club. The Phillies signed four pitchers at the camp, but passed on Justin Drabek. As a pitcher, the older Drabek lacks Kyle's fastball and has scrapped the idea of surviving as a pitcher. Instead, Justin Drabek has moved to shortstop and played last season with the Chillicothe Paints of the independent Frontier League. While he lacks the size of his younger brother, the elder Drabek has plenty of speed, swings a good bat and is an above average fielder. Still, the Phillies didn't see anything in him this past weekend that interested them in signing him.

After Drabek's outing Wednesday night, it's likely that he'll move over to the minor league camp when pitchers and catchers report on Thursday. It will be the only outing for the young right-hander who is slated to start the year at Class-A Lakewood. As for Justin, it's anybody's guess where he'll be starting te season.